Experimental Corneal Calcification. A Study of Acid Mucopolysaccharides

Abstract

Experimental calcification of the cornea was induced in a group of rabbits following treatment with dihydrotachysterol (DHT) and perfusion of the anterior chamber. This method proved to be simple and reproducible. Perfusion of the anterior chamber with permanganate evoked remarkable corneal edema, in which results of all used histochemical reactions (Alcian blue staining at pH 2.5, colloidal Fe³⁺, Alcian blue in solutions containing increasing concentrations of MgCl₂, Toluidine blue staining at pH 4.5) were distinctly accentuated. The biochemical determination of hexosamines and glucuronic acid showed the actual decrease in the content of acid mucopolysaccharides in the edematous cornea. Calcification was observed in rabbits treated with DHT since the fourth day, in the superficial corneal stromal lamellae, since the sixth day also in the area of basal membrane of corneal epithelium. In the later intervals both areas confluenced.